REVERSE IT!

One of my favorite yoga poses is "Reverse Warrior." It's an interesting pose because you really work in two very different directions. In life, as in yoga, we often find ourselves with opposing priorities, and sometimes even opposing, contradictory views. What I've found, and what Core Strength Vinyasa Yoga teaches, is that when we are pulled in different directions, it's important

to remember our center, and to work on expressing from there.

In "Reverse Warrior," you start from Warrior Two. That is, you start from a lunge position, with the back foot flat on the floor, and the front toes and knee pointing in the same direction...straight in front of you. The knee should be over the ankle, or close. The back thigh is pressing back, the front knee resists the urge to turn in, but tracks along with the third toe---straight ahead. The torso is centered over the hips, and the sides of the torso are long.

The pelvic floor (everything below your belly button,) is lifted. Core Strength Vinyasa Yogis like to pull the naval in and up a little bit, and press the lower ribs back towards the spine. We then lift the heart, and relax the shoulders down away from the ears, and the arms extend out from the shoulders. Your gaze is right over the middle finger of your front hand...the one that corresponds to your lunging knee.

We're still just in Warrior Two. To go to Reverse Warrior, You take that front hand, and begin to reach it back, over your ear, and let your back hand slide down your back leg, which stretches the side body. What always happens in the pose is that the lunging leg begins to straighten, and we go out of the lunge...coming back towards a straight leg in front. I have to constantly remind myself and my students that just because we are reaching back, we don't have to let go of the forward direction in the front leg. If you can get that front leg to a 90 degree angle, and hold it there as you reach your front hand over your top ear...that's pretty cool and a beautiful pose.

You'll most likely find at this point, that while your reaching forward with your knee, and backward with your hand, you've lost your center, and your pelvis has left the building. So take a second to find center again. Lift that pelvic floor up, and re-engage your belly and low ribs. You'll then have a longer, more powerfully supported reverse warrior. Take a few deep breaths, long inhales and exhales. Lift your torso back to warrior two on an exhale, and take a few breaths there. That's working from your center.

In life, it's the same deal. When you're feeling pulled in opposite directions, you should always take a second to re-engage your center. What are your core beliefs and values? What do you hold up as an ultimate truth? When you're coming from that place, and reminding yourself of that, you get an innate sense of which direction to adjust, where to back off, and where to reach forward. It's a powerful thing to remember, and a wonderful thing to practice.

Milk and Honey

I'm going to Milk and Honey tonight. I haven't been in a really long time, but I remember liking it and hating it simultaneously. For those of you who don't live in NYC, or just don't know what Milk and Honey is--it's a really small, really quiet bar. You have to make reservations, and once there, you have to mind your manners. There are rules. Men can't talk to women unless the women speak to them first...etc. The best, and funniest rule, is that you can't talk about fighting.

I wonder how they came up with this rule. Was there a long boxing discussion one night that got really boring? Or is it more about fights that the customers might have been involved in, or wanted to be involved in. I wonder what will happen if I say that my yoga class tonight kicked someone's ass---will that be enough of an oblique reference to fighting to get me reprimanded?

The other thing I remember loving about the place is that they make their own ginger ale. Awesome. The only music when I was last there, came from a tiny little boom box. I don't even think there was an ipod in the place.

Something about this enforced quiet, the regulated manners---well, it just makes me happy. I know that while I'm there, nobody is going to do anything rude. I'm not going to hear any douchebaggy conversations. That's pretty cool.

When You're Pissed-Where Does the Yoga Go?

It's always interesting to me, as someone who considers himself a yogi, that my bad temper has not gone away. You'd think with all the deep breathing, the commitment to react less, the helping people learn to unlock their inner teacher, and re-discover their radiance, that everything would be great, and I'd never get mad. That's what I thought that when I started practicing yoga seriously.

There are a lot of misconceptions about what yoga does, and what you must do in order to practice it. One thing people seem to think is that when you start doing yoga, you miraculously become a magical person---not angry, calm every moment of the day, and completely non-reactive. Well, not necessarily true-and in my case, far from the truth.

I get ANGRY. I always have. It's something I've always struggled with. I used to scream and yell a lot. I called people horrible names, and made people cry. Once, when I was about 6 years old, I got mad at some kid who was picking on my brother, and grabbed him and knocked his head into a tree a few times. He didn't pick on my brother anymore, and I got into a lot of trouble. The thing was, that lashing out, it didn't make me feel good at all. It just made me more angry, and then it made me feel really bad later.

I haven't hit anyone in a really long time....decades, but the urge visits often. I did throw a small bottle of oregano at someone a few years ago...but at their midsection, not their face....so I don't feel too bad about it...and yeah, they probably deserved to have a little oregano bottle chunked their way, come to think of it.

The point is, I had the urge to throw a bottle today, or maybe smash one on the ground or call someone a nasty name. I didn't, obviously. I know that would be totally pointless. Instead, I'm spending some time thinking about what really caused my anger, and trying to transform the anger into positive action. That's one thing yoga can teach you.

Usually, when I get mad these days, I don't try to get even. I try to improve my situation...analyze what happened, why it pissed me off, and what I can do to make myself feel better about the situation, or how I can work to change it.

It's about bramacharya (a Sanskrit word often interpreted as meaning celibacy, but that can actually mean restraint of energy.) When you practice a retention, a hugging in...it offers you time to reflect. Instead of going to the person who pissed me off and hitting them, or calling them a "scumbag" or "motherfu**er," I'll talk to them when I'm ready. When I'm calmer, more in control of my emotions. I'll take a moment to save my own ass, their feelings, and to prevent loss of control.

So yeah, yoga might not save you from ever getting mad, but it might remind you to control your actions, to be bigger than the person who makes you angry, to hold your tongue, or to work for change.

Anger might be actually considered a positive force, or at least the inspiration for change. We'll talk about it more.

Inspiration for my last tattoo.

As large as this ether (all space) is, so large is that ether within the heart. Both heaven and earth are contained within it, both fire and air, both sun and moon, both lightning and stars; and whatever there is of him (the Self) here in the world, and whatever is not (i. e. whatever has been or will be), all that is contained within it.

Love Comes In Many Forms

I was thinking about love stories, romances. These are some of my favorites,
and some that are definitely worth checking out if you haven't seen them.

Some Unusual and Spectacular Movies About Love:

1. Harold and Maude-Dark, funny, improbable, and perfect. Human, messy, and inspiring, while remaining completely twisted.

2. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg-My vote for one of the most romantic and beautiful movie musicals ever.

3. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button-Just saw it. It's damn near perfect. Was prepared to hate it, but it really surprised and moved me.

4. The Color Purple-Love of self, love of family, love of forgiveness, self-discovery, revenge, empowerment, love of god, discovery of god within every bit of creation. It's a movie about yoga.

5. Auntie Mame-A great love story between a boy and his aunt. Sweet, funny, and inspiring.

6. Shelter-Just watch it. Sexy, romantic, and sweet. We find families where we least expect to.

7. The Object of My Affection-Relationship between gay man and his best girl explored in a way that is true to life, hilarious, and sad.

8. Beautiful Thing-Just perfect. This is what falling should feel like.

9. Away from Her-Growing old together explored with a brutal honesty...it stays with you.

10. Frida-A woman in love with art, life, and her man. Stunning visually, and totally inspirational.

The Law of Atraction, Bliss Versus Joy, and Jack Daniels fueled Makeout Sessions.

I came across something interesting in a book a friend of mine gave me the other day.

The book, first of all, is not something I would normally pick up, it's about "The Law of Attraction." Basically, for anyone who doesn't know, the Law of Attraction states that like attracts like...If you're thinking good thoughts, you reach a certain levelof vibration that brings good stuff to you. Ok. I'm sure anyone who would read this blog has seen "The Secret," or at least heard of it, but I've always actually believed in this theory, or law, or maxim. I don't see how anyone who goes around complaining, bitching, and griping constantly can bring or allow anything good to happen. If something good should come their way, they are certain to find something equally distressing or upsetting going on, and turn their attention towards that.

So I think that yes, the "law of attraction" makes sense on a lot of levels, that the more you think of or expect a good outcome, the better off things tend to go, or at least, the better your perception of things will be.

So what I was read had to do with the "law" on one level, and with the way I perceive things on another...and it made me think about how much the expression of an idea can affect the way the idea is perceived.

You've probably heard that Joseph Campbell famously said "Follow your bliss." I've always heard it, and always thought it was a dangerous statement. What if one's bliss is let's just say, having 7 or 8 Jack and Cokes, getting completely wasted, and making out with a strange guitar player in the bathroom at Don Hill's? It sounds fun on some kind of rock star on a bender hypothetical level, but not necessarily good for either party. But if one is following her bliss, shouldn't that be ok? If one is thinking positive thoughts, it will all work out fine, right? Something about Campbell's phrase made me feel queasy, and I've never uttered that sentence because of it. It sounds like a slippery slope to me.

In The Attraction Distraction, by Sonia M. Miller, Miller says that following your bliss means "letting that which brings you joy lead you." It's a great statement, at least to me, because joy...that's a word that brings images of something quite a bit different to mind...at least for me. Somehow, to me, "bliss" implies a loss of the senses, a melting into some kind of gooey, watery abandon, and surrender of the will to a point where anything goes. In my mind, you can trust that something that brings you joy is working for your good, and instead of blindly following something, you are allowing yourself to be led, and guided somewhere. And the guidance, really, is coming from you, from what brings you joy.

So if I think about the things that bring me joy--teaching or practicing yoga, hanging with my seven year old niece, cooking the random fancy dinner, being with loved ones, and yes, the occasional (or frequent) make-out session with the one I love, as many horror movies as I can stand, and writing--basically most creative endeavors seem to elevate the joy factor... I think I'm doing things that definitely keep my vibration high, and keep my soul feeling good--feeling able to attract more nourishing possibilities, more amazing opportunities, and more abundant experiences.

Think about things that bring you joy. When was the last time you were led by joy? When is the last time you allowed yourself to be guided by the things that make you sing inside? Are you moving towards joy? When you do, you move towards your highest good. These good feelings engender more good feelings, and when you are at that level of joy, of true good vibrations, there is nothing that can stop you. You are, at that point, connected to the cosmic, the eternal. You began to be aware of this connection, and to remember that, underneath it all, everything is made of the same energy, and to me, that is the essence of joy--the destruction of the illusion of separation.

So, long post short, joy sounds better to me than bliss. Being led by joy sounds more sound than following some bliss. It can sometimes be in the turn of a phrase that alignment with a principle is discovered, and something you once thought meaningless can develop into a profound truth.